By Kerry J. Byrne
Cold, Hard Football Facts assassin of gridiron myths
After a two-year absence, the Patriots have returned to the steely, glinting, razor-sharp form that once made them the most ruthless big-game assassins in NFL history.
Proof that the Patriots of old are back came in the form of Sunday’s gut-check 24-20 win at Indy. The Colts were clearly the superior team for three quarters, holding the most explosive offense in NFL history to a mere 10 points and the record-setting Tom Brady to fewer than 100 yards passing into the fourth quarter.
It had all the makings of a clean, easy kill by the Colts. They had their knee on New England's chest and the tip of their gridiron rapier aimed at the Patriots' Adam's apple, sporting a 20-10 lead with 9 minutes to play.
Yet Indy somehow relented the advantage ... the advantage in the game and, quite possibly, the all-important homefield advantage in the playoffs, where history has shown us that the home team in the New England-Indy postseason meeting has gone on to win the Super Bowl in 2003, 2004 and 2006. The winner of the New England-Indy regular-season series also won the Super Bowl in 2001.
After eight straight record-setting blowout victories over teams not worthy of sniffing Indy's jock-strap, it was only natural to wonder how the 2007 version of the Patriots might respond in a big game, with the icy hands of defeat constricting around their neck.
Thhe 2007 Patriots responded much like the Patriots of 2003 and 2004: with a 1-2-3 punch of offensive, defensive and special teams plays in the fourth quarter that swung the advantage back in their favor.
- After being frustrated for three quarters, Brady completed fourth-quarter passes of 55 yards and 33 yards to Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth, respectively, to set up fourth-quarter TDs, against a defense that had not yielded a pass of longer than 25 yards all season.
- After being held at bay for three quarters, linebacker Rosevelt Colvin and defensive lineman Jarvis Green ended Indy's final two drives by collapsing the pocket and forcing Peyton Manning to fumble.
- Receiver and return specialist Wes Welker ripped off a serpentine, 23-yard punt return late in the fourth quarter to set up the Patriots at midfield with less than 4 minutes remaining
Many of the names have changed over the past couple years, but if the win by New England felt familiar, it was.
No team in history has ever come close to achieving that mark of the big-game success.
The 2003 Patriots were lamented for failing to win convincingly. Indeed, they outscored their opponents by a mere 110 points (348-238) on their way to a 14-2 record. To put that into perspective, the 2007 Patriots have already outscored their opponents by 208 points and, just 9 games into the season, have already scored more points than the Super Bowl champion 2003 Patriots (355 to 348).
Only one team has come close to matching those 2003 Patriots: the 2004 Patriots, who went 10-1 against Quality Teams – the lone loss a 14-point defeat at Pittsburgh against a 15-1 Steelers team.
New England’s big-game resume over those two years is utterly impressive, and highlighted by:
- A 4-0 mark against 2003 co-MVPs Steve McNair and Peyton Manning, including a pair of playoff wins in which Tennessee and Indy were held to a combined 28 points
- A gritty come-from-behind win over the surprisingly game Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII
- A 20-3 playoff victory over the 2004 Colts, who entered the game with the fifth-best scoring offense of the Super Bowl Era
- A 41-27 win at Pittsburgh in the AFC title game the following week, against a 15-1 team that boasted the No. 1 scoring defense in football
That big-game team disappeared in 2005 and 2006. The Patriots were 0-3 against a clearly superior Colts team over that period – including the loss last year in the epic AFC title game – and a mere 8-11 overall against Quality Team competition.
But New England’s 24-20 win over at Indy Sunday stands as the most obvious indicator yet that the big-game assassins of 2003-04 are back, ready to slit the jugular of anyone who stands in their way, no matter how dire the situation may seem.
Never had their foe been better, tougher or more formidable than the 2007 Colts were Sunday in the Game of the Millennium, which merely confirmed that it's a two-team league, at least until proven otherwise.
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The good news for New England is that they emerged from the Game of the Millennium with a gut-check, come-from-behind win on the road against one of the best football teams in modern history.
The bad news for New England?
The Patriots and Colts will probably square off again. And does anyone – even the most color-blind New England homer – think that the Colts couldn’t win the rematch, no matter where it’s played?
This assertion doesn’t mean Indy will win a rematch. Just that they can win a rematch. They certainly looked capable of beating New England for 50 minutes on Sunday.
The good news for football fans, meanwhile, is that the Game of the Ages between these two teams lived up to the hype – again – and the rivalry shows no sign of ebbing any time soon.
(Rarely does the “Game of the Century” live up to the marquee billing that precedes it. Anyone remember Super Bowl XIX? Joe Montana’s 15-1 49ers squared off against record-setting Dan Marino’s 14-2 Dolphins that day. It turned out to be nothing but a coronation lap for the 49ers, who won 38-16.)
Patriots-Colts, over their last two meetings, have done nothing but confirm that these are, in fact, the two best teams in football. And after each team has given up leads over the past 11 months in games they seemingly had won, you can be assured each has learned a lesson:
Keep your hands around the neck until the body stops convulsing.
Should make their impending rematch in January an even greater bloodbath than the past two epics.
